072 Michael C. Bertoni - Unlocking Premium SaaS Talent

On this episode of SaaS Fuel™, the founder and CEO of SaaS Talent(formerly known as PhillyTech)Michael Bertoni, joins host Jeff Mains to talk about hiring and growth in the health tech and SaaS industries.

Michael shares his company's process for finding the ideal candidate profile, targeting individuals with a lead-generating marketing approach, and creating an unbelievable candidate experience through efficient and effective interviews. The episode also covers the importance of building a community and giving back. Michael has also been educating tech boot camp attendees on how to set up their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and network for jobs. He's got some great tips and tricks up his sleeve, and you won't want to miss a single one.

Key Takeaways

[00:11:15] Recruiters use LinkedIn and GitHub profiles to find candidates with specific skills and experience to match an employer's job requirements. They create an exact candidate profile and hyper-target potential hires on LinkedIn.

[00:13:03] The company targets passive job seekers and sells them the opportunity to work for the company. They post on multiple job boards to find the best candidates.

[00:14:43] Tech company's unique story improves patient outcomes, creating excitement and differentiation in the industry. Focus on candidate experience leads to positive feedback and job satisfaction.

[00:17:20] Targeting and screening job candidates effectively through psychological tactics and thorough preparation for interviews leads to better interview experiences and outcomes.

[00:22:55] Remote interviews with prepared candidates lead to better experiences and scaling a company requires training and delegation.

[00:30:25] A recruiting company looks for specific skills and experience in job candidates based on the client's requirements and their own experience before targeting candidates with a detailed checklist including LinkedIn and GitHub.

[00:31:54] Building an ideal candidate profile requires at least two years of experience in their last job and a job requirement framework that includes a company overview, benefits, team, and technical requirements. They also have email and messaging templates for job postings.

[00:33:08] Recruiters target people with LinkedIn and email messages, send screening questions, obtain resumes, conduct interviews, and submit successful candidates to clients.

[00:37:29] Attention to detail in the hiring process for faster results.

[00:39:26] Build a community by organizing meetups, networking events, job presentations, and bringing people together to give back, recently expanding nationally under the name SaaS and High Tech meetups. A recent successful meetup was held to educate and assist people in getting jobs in the SaaS and High Tech industries.

Tweetable Quotes

"It breaks down what is weak to make the entire thing stronger when you face obstacles. Create variation. Use those obstacles to creatively solve problems and create options." - 00:04:28 - Jeff Mains

"You gotta build your community so we built a meetup...we're constantly trying to bring people into this community and give back" - 00:39:26 Michael Bertoni

“And when you focus, when you think about that mindset of a candidate's experience and making everything about their experience unbelievable.” - 00:16:07 Michael Bertoni

“And then when you're talking and you're telling about your experience, most people aren't salespeople. So they don't know how to explain like an engineer doesn't know how to talk to you about their experience.” - 00:21:10 Michael Bertoni

“We educate the client that, you know, you really gotta shorten that timeframe, you're gonna lose people.” - 00:37:13 Michael Bertoni

SaaS Leadership Lessons

1. Having an antifragile mindset is crucial for SaaS founders. This means that instead of fearing obstacles, you should embrace them as opportunities to creatively solve problems and create options.
2. SaaS companies need to go beyond finding C-sharp engineers with many years of experience. Michael and his team use a specific process to build an exact candidate profile and hyper-target people using recruiters on LinkedIn.
3. Finding good candidates and preparing them for interviews are equally important. Positive candidate experiences can boost the company's brand and attract top personnel.
4. Creating an "unbelievable" candidate experience is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. Michael emphasizes the importance of letting people grow and get better in a successful business.
5. Any company that wants to hire the best candidates needs a well-organized hiring process. The hiring team must be able to rapidly and efficiently find the best candidates and link them with clients.
6. Building a community is highly recommended for any SaaS company or individual. Michael hosts a meetup called the SaaS and high-tech meetup, which provides networking events, job presentations, and speakers.
7. The process of higher optimization is critical for both candidates and clients in the recruitment process. It involves several steps, including candidate submission, interview coordination, and coaching, all of which are designed to help the client find the best candidate for the job.
8. For SaaS and high-tech recruiters, meetups are essential. Recruiters can network with possible prospects, display job openings, and build relationships with people who may not be actively looking for jobs but could be great candidates in the future at such events.

Guest Resources

Michael Bertoni (Linkedin): https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbertoni33

Michael Bertoni (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MichaelBertoni

Michael Bertoni (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC66vfM7qX5EJqXj_YwEg07w

PhillyTech (Website): https://www.phillytech.co/

Resources Mentioned

PhillyTech (Website): https://www.phillytech.co/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/

Episode Sponsor

Today’s episode is sponsored by the book Small Fish Big Pond: Building a World-Class Business That Swims Circles Around Competitors. Why do some SaaS companies achieve explosive growth while others sink into the depths? Why do some solutions inspire fierce brand loyalty while others are interchangeable? What can we SaaS leaders learn from fish? Small Fish Big Pond delivers powerful marketing and leadership lessons guaranteed to enhance your marketing message, wrap value around clients, and guide their buying journey to conclude that your company is the only solution for them. It includes step-by-step frameworks and time-tested growth tools to attract ideal clients, convert them, and transform them into brand ambassadors. Pick up the print, ebook, or audio today at smallfishbigpond.com or your favorite book source.

Small Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel’

Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/

SaaS Fuel Resources

Website - https://championleadership.com/

Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmains

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/

Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains